Whispering Smith Column published in the Littlehampton Gazette January 22nd 2015

GREAT NEWS, Littlehampton Town Council have announced that there are several allotment plots on offer in the local area. I had to wait well over a year for mine and found the wait to be well worth while and now, four years on, I consider myself a true allotmenteer. Great for exercise in the fresh air – the hard work helped me to lose twenty pounds – excellent for meeting and making new friends, getting helpful advice, growing your own veg and having the great joy of sharing surplus with your family and neighbours, it is a win win situation. Before rushing for the great land grab though, do be aware that to make a go of it, takes time and regular hard work, especially for the first season, one evening a week or an odd Saturday morning visit will not get it done.

YOU may have noticed new signboards in and around the town, they look very much like oversized upended mobile phones, obviously put there for the benefit of visitors as it is a certainty that we locals know where the beach and the harbour are. One puzzle though, I would have thought the Windmill Cinema would have had a definitive mention instead of being labelled as a theatre or arts centre, our cinema is a very real and a busy holiday attraction in its own right.

THERE are several dogs on wheels in and around the town, a sad sight, lovely animals who have for one reason or another lost the use of either front or hind legs. It used to worry me wondering how happy they are in such a harness and living such a life. Well I have now met a couple and believe me it is not so sad when you see how happy and cared for they are.

APPRECIATED the letter from the RSPCA in last week’s Gazette regarding the Forlorn Horse but it was an answer that does beg a question. If isolation, loneliness, standing on a mud patch in all weathers and lack of any exercise with little to do but gaze into space all day do not equate to a form of cruelty, then what does? Even high security prisoners languishing in our jails get an hour’s daily exercise.